HOLLY WATT
Journalist & Author
BOOKS
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Holly Watt's newest novel The Last Truths We Told is out in January 2025
Her first novel - To The Lions - won the 2019 CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger.
The Dead Line was longlisted for the 2021 Steel Dagger.
The Hunt and The Kill was The Times's Thriller of the Month.
The End of the Game came out in 2023
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"The Hunt and the Kill is a terrific blend of old-school adventure and the thriller-with-a-conscience that has become Holly Watt’s signature," noted The Times. "Much of John le Carré’s work was steered by his moral compass. Why should his heir be a man?"
THE LAST TRUTHS WE TOLD
It's not the lies that kill you. It's the truth.
Twenty years ago, nine university friends made a series of predictions about what would happen to each of them after college. Now they’ve all gathered together for the weekend. Not for a reunion but for a reveal.
Some of them have gone on to staggering success, others to more mundane lives. And one of them is missing.
Before her death Lily seemed agitated. Even scared. In the weeks before her death, she called Maggie, wanting to talk but then refusing to say what was frightening her. Now Maggie is beginning to realise that not everyone at the house this weekend is who they appeared to be.
And those who are lying are prepared to do anything to stop the truth coming out.
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"A romantic tale of detection and disillusion, it is very well written and genuinely creepy." The Times Thriller of the Month, January 2025
THE DEAD LINE
A Bangladeshi camp. A British ambassador. A Harley Street doctor.
Investigative journalist Casey Benedict is used to working on stories that will take her from the bottom to the top of society – stories with a huge human cost. And her latest case is no different.
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​The Dead Line is the second book in the Casey Benedict series. Their attempts to find the girls will take Casey from her London newsroom across the world and into the very heart of families who will be destroyed if what she uncovers is ever revealed.
A Sunday Times Thriller of the Year
The Times Thriller of the Month
Longlisted for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
'Vivid and packed with journalistic lore... Mixing pulsating derring-do with painstaking detective work' Sunday Times
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THE HUNT AND THE KILL
A searing, page-turning, pulse-racing thriller that sees Casey on a hunt around the globe as she pursues a major exposé into pioneering medical research and drugs that could change the world.
The Hunt and the Kill is the third book in the Casey Benedict series.
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A Times Thriller of the Month
'In the gutsy Casey, [the author] has created an unstoppable yet entirely credible modern heroine... Much of John le Carré's work was steered by his moral compass. Why should his heir be a man?' The Times
'Casey is fierce, obsessive and brilliant' Observer
'An action-packed rollercoaster of a read ... From the first twist to the heart-thumping finale, I was on the edge of my seat' Charlotte Philby, author of The Second Woman
Winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger
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The Crime Writers' Associations described To The Lions as "A deeply uncomfortable read which lingers long in the memory, this tautly plotted and timely thriller shines a light on the role of the journalist as witness or protagonist and asks devastating questions about the value of human life before culminating in a life-or-death chase through the desert to Libya. This is a highly accomplished debut that marks Watt out as a fresh and important voice."
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To The Lions is currently in development by the producers of Spooks, The Night Manager and The Undoing, which recently starred Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant.
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JOURNALISM
Holly started her career at the Sunday Times, before moving to the Daily Telegraph. During six years at the Telegraph, she was the Whitehall Editor and jointly ran the investigations team. She then moved to work on the Guardian's investigations team.
Holly has been nominated for a wide range of journalism prizes, winning awards for her work on stories including MPs’ Expenses at the Telegraph and the Panama Papers at the Guardian.
She has reported from a wide range of countries, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Libya, Jordan and Lebanon. As well as flying around the world on everything from Lynx helicopters to Air Force One, Holly also worked as an undercover journalist.
In 2008, she was the Laurence Stern Fellow, spending several months working at the Washington Post.